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Today we began our journey, after a long week of packing and 6 long months of planning, saving up enough money and anticipation. The trek began quite stalwartly and we had almost escaped the city of Pittsburgh as we approached the on ramp that would have put us on 376 E to wherever.

The RV suddenly began having difficulty shifting, and then I noticed smoke coming out of the engine. I pulled over to the closest spot I could, turned the vehicle off and opened the hood. A group of men working across the street began yelling, “You’ve got a fire under there!”

For a split second I thought this was construction worker lingo for the engine smoking, but quickly looked underneath the RV to see flames billowing up and out from underneath. I screamed for Tristan to get out of the car and rushed to the side door to grab the fire extinguisher. Luckily I was able to put put the fire without any Hollywood style explosions prevailing.

However, before even leaving our hometown, we’re now stranded alongside Interstate 376 and at the mercy of our local towing industry.

Published: July 28, 2008Updated: June 2, 2018

Nathan is the Editor-in-Chief around these parts, and has been traveling by train, bike, VW Bus and Airstream since 2008. He's on Instagram.